New Delhi: After the central government repeals the three contentious farm laws in the winter session of Parliament, protesting farmers should form a committee and present solutions to the ongoing agrarian crisis, according to Sardara Singh Johl, one of India’s most prominent agricultural economists.
“Now that the government has decided to repeal the three farm laws, after a year (of passage and protests), before the crucial UP assembly elections, the onus is on farmers,” the 93-year-old said in a telephonic interview with ThePrint.
“They should share what particular thing or change they want, be it in policy or anything else. They can form their own committee, involving some experts of their choice, and design an Act which will be in favour of farmers and then discuss it further with the government,” he added.
Johl said any reforms in the agricultural sector “should be made through mutual consent in future”.
“The protesting farmers need to clear their stand first, then discuss the same with the government. After that, the government can form a committee on it for wider consultation and acceptance or farmers can present their views in Parliament via their representatives.”
Highlighting the need for reforms in the Indian agrarian sector, Johl said that, even with the repeal of the farm laws, the present system still does not favour farmers.
“Farmers don’t even get 20 per cent price of what consumers pay for their produce. The massive problem of farmer and peasant suicide is also the result of the present system. In the ongoing season, cauliflower has been sold at Rs 2 a kg by farmers but consumers purchased it for at least Rs 10-15 a kg,” said Johl.
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‘No place for discussion’
A Padma Bhushan awardee, Johl is currently the first chancellor of the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, and has been recognised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research as a professor of eminence in economics. The alumnus of Panjab University has previously served as vice-chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala, and Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.
Johl has been chairman of the Government of India’s Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, a member of the Economic Advisory Council for four prime ministers, and has held the posts of director, Central Governing Board, Reserve Bank of India, among others. He was also president of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Economics Research Association, and Indian Society for Agricultural Marketing.
On the global stage, Johl served as a consultant to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, World Bank, and Economic Commission for West Asia.
Speaking to ThePrint, Johl criticised the Centre for bulldozing the new farm laws through Parliament through sheer majority, and said the laws could have been passed without protests if the government had allowed discussions.
“The central government took a wrong path in introducing and implementing the new farm laws by ordinances. Even after that, they had six months, but they didn’t put the matter in the public domain and discuss it,” he said.
“They didn’t allow a discussion after tabling it in Parliament either and didn’t forward it to a select committee, as demanded by the Opposition. Riding on a majority, they got it passed in both the Houses and even got it approved by the President. This puts the government in a situation of a trust deficit, which is the real problem,” Johl added. “Otherwise, the bills could’ve passed naturally in Parliament too.”
As a result, he said, “farmers took a stand and the government couldn’t convince them”. “In fact, there was no space for logical discussion. Also, if the end party (farmers) doesn’t want the laws, the government should’ve repealed them,” Johl added.
“Another problem was that some sub-amendments related to empowerment or participation of states were chopped off. At least the role of states could have been made an advisory or consultatory one. Such things were needed. The laws were good otherwise,” Johl said.
(Edited by Saikat Niyogi)
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